Collingwood captain Darcy Moore has opened up on the “pretty brutal” reality of the AFL after grand final winning teammate Jack Ginnivan was traded to Hawthorn during the Trade Period.
Less than three weeks ago, the pair were part of the Collingwood side that claimed the clubs 16th premiership.
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But after the Magpies landed Fremantle’s Lachie Schultz earlier in the week, Ginnivan saw the writing on the wall and asked for the trade.
Hawthorn quickly snapped him up and on Thursday, Ginnivan was pictured wearing a Hawks guernsey.
It’s not the first time he’s been pictured wearing a Hawks strip however, as he grew up a mad fan of the club.
But the look didn’t seem to sit too well with his former skipper Moore.
Speaking on Thursday’s episode of The Project where he was a guest host, Moore was questioned about seeing Ginnivan as a Hawk.
Waleed Aly asked: “How does it feel seeing those colours on him?”
Moore replied: “Feels weird. Jack, what are you doing? Come back.
“It’s very surreal, isn’t it?”
Panellist and comedian Sam Taunton asked: “Is he dead to you now?”
Without missing a beat, Moore replied: “Is who dead? I don’t know.”
Host Sarah Harris said: “Isn’t it weird to be playing shoulder-to-shoulder with this bloke and the next minute seeing him in a different uniform, knowing all of your team secrets as well?”
Moore: “I know, he’s going to give away all of our secrets to the Hawks now.
“No, it’s bizarre but it happens every year, that reminder for all of us that professional sport, we love it and as teammates we’re so connected and turn ourselves inside out for each other but come trade period it’s pretty brutal.”
Aly questioned whether it had to happen so quickly.
The trade period (October 9-18) began a week after the grand final (September 30), with free agency period starting a few days earlier (October 6-13).
“Do you have to win a flag on Saturday and then on Friday be looking for a new club? That feels hard,” Aly asked.
“You think there should be a little amnesty period?” Moore replied.
Taunton then asked Moore if he could ever see himself in another guernsey — “Like, Gold Coast if they threw in a lifetime membership at Wet’n’Wild?”
Moore quipped: “Maybe Dreamworld and we’ll have a deal.”
Ginnivan said it was “a dream come true to don the brown and gold finally”.
“One of my favourite players was Sam (Mitchell), growing up watching him, having his number on my back, they are things you dream of as a little kid and for this to happen is so special,” Ginnivan said.
Ginnivan was seen as a trade “steal” according to Fox Footy’s David King after he was snapped up for a reported four-year-deal.
But King warned the 20-year-old will need to be “more back page, less front page” at his new club after a controversial few years at Collingwood.
Ginnivan came under fire for his appearance at the Moonee Valley races on grand final eve, in a move that reportedly became the “final straw” for the Pies after his pre-season drug ban.
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